Apple has finally posted an acceptable “apology” on its UK website after being ordered to do so by a national judge, and after its first attempt at an apology garnered international scorn and ridicule. Now the story has become a global saga instead of something that could have been quickly slid under the rug.

It all started last month when Apple actually lost its patent lawsuit against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab in the UK. The judge there did what many other jurisdictions around the world have failed to do, and said that Samsung did not infringe on the rival company’s patents.

In fact, Judge Colin Birss felt that it was such a clear-cut decision that he demanded Apple release an apology to Samsung for all the hassle and for generating bad PR for the company. What Apple published was very unapologetic and clearly showed they did not agree with the judge’s ruling.

As you might expect, another UK judge wasn’t too happy about this and demanded the apology be rewritten. It got worse though, as not only did Apple now need to post a full apology on its website, it had to post an apology about its botched apology. The judge gave the company just a couple days to fulfill the new order even though Apple asked for 14.

So now, if you go to Apple.com/uk, you will see a statement in a fairly large font at the bottom explaining its error, along with a link to the full apology. Again, this is something that probably wouldn’t have originally made major headlines, but because Apple tried to complain instead of complying, it has gained significant attention.